Sunday, August 12, 2007

Cardiff city, here I come [finances permitting]

Been offered a place on the Nations incarnation of TAPS' continung drama workshop in Cardiff at the end of the month. That's the good news. Bad news? Begging or borrowing the money needed to fund my attendance. I can apply to Skillset for 80% of fees back [about £250 of the £325 required], and they'll chip in some money for travel and subsistence too, which is nice.

Of course, you can only apply to Skillset's freelance fund once a year for such assistance, so that's a factor. And there's no guarantee I will get the funding. And even if I do, you still have to pay for everything up front and try to claim your reimbursement later. All factors in choosing whether to go.

Plus there's no shortage of deadlines I need to meet between now and then. Halfway through writing the first draft of my MA screenwriting course final project. Want to get that done, send it out for some Power of 3 action and complete one least one more draft before I have to deliver the results on August 31. Got a Phantom script to write, that's at least two days to do a decent job.

Got the final two parts of an interview feature to write, so that's another two or three days. The Edinburgh Film Festival starts any day and I've paid £50 for a discounted delegate pass, so want to make some use of that. But Edinburgh's a two hour round trip, so any trip to town is effectively another working day gone, gone, gone.

Friends coming to stay, a trip to the dentist and play rehearsals all conspire to consume the 18 days left before I'd have to leave for Cardiff. I'd like some hint of a social life as well, but it looks like that'll have to wait until September. Argh. Still, with any luck I'll scrap together the necessary funds and spend three days in Cardiff at the end of this month.

At least I don't have to wait for news about whether or not I've succeeded with that opportunity. Let's hope my job application and my good run with Danny's Toys in the PAGE International Screenwriting Contest prove just as successful. Fingers crossed.

7 comments:

Lucy V said...

I have the same problem David: being a freelancer, any time away inevitably means you're spending more money in lost time in addition to the actual fees of whatever course you're attending. I went on loads of courses when I first really started to get into writing; now I only go on those that measure up in terms of a)word of mouth b)time (1 day is optimum) c) gives me something concrete ie. networking opps (like Adrian's courses) or an actual script to develop. No "theory courses" for me anymore.

DAVID BISHOP said...

Feel like I'm fast approaching that point myself, especially with my MA course coming to an end. Number six on my list of goals for the next two years: Get into another script workshop or mentoring scheme.

Lucy V said...

Defo, me 2. That Lighthouse TV drama thing seems ideal for us.

rob said...

Yay Cardiff!

If you do come down and need a guided tour let me know.

At least you've no shortage of work.

Best,

R.

Piers said...

gratz!

Have a good time in Cardiff...

Stuart Perry said...

Congrats, David. Haven't heard anything yet about Regions...

DAVID BISHOP said...

The Nations deadline was a week before the Regions deadline, so that may well be a factory...